In my 89th year, the words have returned. I am deep into completing a novel. And I am compiling a book of poems which originated as paintings.

Seems I am a serious late bloomer! So I might as well raise my martini to new beginnings. Cheers! Age is just a number, and mine being no longer unlisted. I embrace it.

Old is Wabi-sabi, weathered, imbued with a beauty that is imperfect. Old, in its transience becomes new, fresh in its honed simplicity. In other words, old is kind of cool. Most days.

Because not an easy world, this. While trying to rough it through with courage to the end. Art Helps. Art Heals. Art Transforms. As that long ago artist found out when she painted a red bull from memory on her cave wall.

Posted Above: CRADLED IN ORANGE. OIL/CANVAS. 3′ x 4′ A wordless meditation on the source of life.

I sell through one-to-one encounters by arranged visit, to my home studio, in Toronto. I may be contacted at ruthrifka1@gmail.com.

Call them what you may–– jellyfish, jellies, jellies, sea jellies, Medusa, MAN OF WAR–– to my mind, they are the oldest body artists on this planet. They have roamed the seas for 500 million years. Shaping themselves from some magic substance, wrapping themselves around air in miracles of design. Transparent. Fragile. Ephemeral, yes, but eternal in their capacity to re-invent themselves.

Tossed up from the tide, strewn along the Florida beach, jellyfish force walkers to move gingerly around them. They will sting badly if you step on their thin thread of a streamer. But if you respect them, they leave you alone. And they are so beautiful.

BODY ARTISTS

I am totally fascinated by them. This exquisite blob that I photographed was one of hundreds catching the sun’s glint along the sandy shore. Scattered there on the sand, from a distance the transparent blobs look like chunks of glass reflecting off the sun. Closer they sparkle like a mineralogist’s collection of individual precious crystals. Then when you peer down on them, you see that each one, is a pulsating life-form, a body artist shaping its own jellyfish destiny, a living sculpture of incomparable grace and form.

Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from surface shallow waters to the deepest depths.

These that I have photographed are from salt water. I am not sure they are any more benign than Man O’War, but I wouldn’t test them. So far as I know only the fresh water species don’t sting.

These transparent creatures probably do–– Harmless as they appear. When I look down into them, study their mystery, I feel properly humbled. Awed. Right before me, I have stumbled upon some ultimate truth.

Nature in its unfathomable eternal mystery reminds you of the limits of human artistry.

WOULD YOU BUY THE MONA LISA?

EVEN IF YOU REALLY DON’T DIG IT?

Lots of people wouldn’t buy the Mona Lisa if it were painted yesterday by some unknown artist. If they could level with you ––without being hooted down–– they would tell you they really don’t dig it. Does that mean they shouldn’t be allowed to purchase art without taking a caretaker along? Do they need a financial adviser to sanctify their art purchase?

Freedom of religion is pretty well a given, these days, so how about freedom of art choice?

BUYING ART AS INVESTMENT?

For the buyer, acquiring a piece of art should be a real cinch, a total pleasure. You love it. You want it. It’s within your budget. It already has an ideal future home, the perfect spot, that doesn’t clash with your décor. It expresses who you are. It’s an “Object of Beauty” in your own eyes. Isn’t that enough?

What’s the hoo-ha anyway about acquiring the right kind of art? Art should not be an investment, but a matter of the heart. From my particular,( and yes, prejudiced) perch, love is not for investment purposes. Or for making a fantastic profit in some future turnover .

GARAGE-SALE ART DISCOVERIES

THE BIG DREAM: FINDING AN UNEXPECTED ‘VALUABLE’ TREASURE––

Will discovering a moldering, hideous painting at a garage sale, perhaps some famous artist’s cast-off, make you like it better? Probably not. So you might as well cash it in for the big bucks and buy whatever does something for your psyche.

To my thinking, just as much as the artist should have created the piece with conviction, so should the buyer part with his money the same way. The buyer should be true to, and trust his own self. Or else hang up gold certificates over the sofa. (Which ultimately, might prove savvier.)

BACK TO THE WHAT IS ART, ANYWAY? DEPARTMENT

Art should and does mean different things to different people. Vive la différence. Artists themselves have a problem getting a handle on “What Is Art”.

Speaking only for myself, I am always working towards conviction ––what is true. Not being a saint, I am not above painting towards the “art market”. Except it wouldn’t work in my case. Honesty of expression is my gig.

MY CRITERION ON WHETHER MY OWN PAINTING IS ANY GOOD–––

The painting on the easel must surprise me and I I feel that could never duplicate it again. It begins to be dear to me, another offspring, so to speak. And I would prefer to part with it on a one to one basis with someone simpatico to me.

This is my take (one of several) on the Mona Lisa:

“MONA LISA, JAZZED UP” OIL/CANVAS/ 40″ X 60″ DIPTYCH

A reversible diptych 40 inches high, 60 inches wide. Oil on canvas. Since the sides can be alternated, it becomes 2 paintings in one, and a bit of a conversation piece.

~

PayPal may be the greatest innovation for commerce, but ideally, I would rather sell my work to a real live person visiting me in my studio, or, at least, by phone contact. If you would like to see any paintings displayed on www.ruthrifka.com offline (plus other work, as yet un-photographed), I welcome you to visit me in my home studio, or discuss any painting on my website (www.ruthrifka.com), by e-mail (ruthrifka1@gmail.com) or by phone (561-368-1127).

HOW SHOULD THE OLDER WOMAN BE PAINTED?

I love the challenge of painting the woman, or man, of a certain age. I don’t go for typecasting the elderly subject as saint, venerable old sod, or ancient harridan, not being such an admirer of fixed genre.

Nor do I aim for photographic likeness. Painting a “portrait’ for me, no matter what intentions I start with, ends up as expressionist experiment––a chance to paint Alla Prima within a certain time limit. To work fast and furious.

CAN WRINKLES BE BEAUTIFUL?

The upstart in me adores wrinkles, the more the better, because they lend expression, and the lines almost paint themselves into a ”found” composition. I find beauty in that. (That said, I am not crazy about my own wrinkles when I brave the mirror, but oddly I loved them those times when I have done self portraits, no other human subject being available. I like to think I have been honest enough to do a pretty good number on myself, but that’s a subject for a future blog on Self Portraits.)

When a model is totally her honest self and past the stage of making herself glamorous. It’s contagious. “The Lioness in Winter” was my muse of complete abandon. She was so natural, I felt given permission to let myself go, and not dwell on outcome, but process.

FRANS HALS, MASTER OF THE ALLA PRIMA PROCESS.

Frans Hals, for me embodies the spirit and drive of Alla Prima painting, most particularly in his quick studies and later “unfinished” work. When I do portrait, I feel on that kind of wave length: surprising myself with an unpredictable line drawing of the brush; creating a kind of pentimento of one line juxtaposed next to another; leaving no time for hesitation; finding myself executing a confident brush stroke that does the drawing, letting the drips gather where they want.

I guess a lot of what got put down on these 2 pieces is me, what I was feeling that day. I hope the model didn’t resent me for what ended up on canvas!

THE LIONESS IN WINTER 2

THE PAINTING SKETCH AS CHARACTER PORTRAIT

Both painting sketches were done in roughly 3 hours, using a limited palette. Critiquing now, I see that they are not “pretty” ( as see below, my prettier effort, “The Model in her Springtime”). Maybe they don’t possess “hang-over-the-fireplace” appeal. And yet I am attached to their worth.

THE MODEL IN HER SPRINGTIME

They may even be considered ugly, but I wanted them to succeed in the spirit of what some consider the uglier works of Lucian Freud or Picasso. Unsure of myself, I have still dared to show them. Whether they fall short of my own aspirations to be totally painterly, or valid, they were my artistic truth then, and I hope to do better, next time.

MODELS WEARING HATS. THE GENERAL HOKIENESS OF COSTUME DRAMA, ETC.

Working in an art club group, sharing the studio, one has to go along with the consensus of how to pose the model. So that’s what I do. But I can’t buy into the hokieness of trumped up costume drama. For me that’s anathema to authenticity. Not that I don’t appreciate the original exotic article, but where is that to be found in these globalized days?

Or is it just that I don’t have the proclivity or talent for clever satire, a la Cindy Sherman? Well, something to aspire to another day!

I JUST LIKE TO CUT TO THE CHASE.

The model chose to wear her pixiesh, threadbare hat as part of the whole costume ritual. So I had to focus harder to avoid thinking ” perky little hat” and stick to my goal of painting portrait as expressionist experiment––My proclivity is towards a form of abstraction that eliminates the extraneous.

If luck is with me, then I will be painting a manifestation of her inner life, and some truth from my own.

I found myself building the painting’s structure with thick impasto strokes, and I used a limited palette.

At least, I did not have to be concerned with flattering or insulting the model by my efforts. A very humble individual, she was interested only in keeping the pose satisfactorily. And I guess she needed the money because she kept mentioning that she was very grateful for the difficult job of posing for our group’s 4 hour session. Never complaining, careful not to talk or laugh. Which kind of produced a zen quality to her concentration.

She hadn’t brought any lunch, so we all shared ours with her. She thanked us for hiring her–– evidently, elderly models aren’t too much in demand. And her hat really didn’t get in the way too much. She allowed herself to be–– a woman of quiet dignity, a woman for all the artistic styles in our painting room.

At a certain point, I thought: my painting is finished. In fact, it kind of painted itself to its final conclusion. So I stopped. After it dried, I used more glazes. I think the painting is “finished” now, whatever that is.

For the past year
I have been painting one-sitting renderings of the live model in which
the head certainly takes central focus. Nevertheless each of these
paintings is not what I think of as being a “portrait” in the
traditional sense. I gravitate to the human landscape, painted live, as
a taking-off point ––a foray into total and free experiment. And I end
up painting myself as much as my subject. It becomes a dual rendering of
both of us.

I aim to accomplish something totally
different with each canvas–– to transform portraiture into something
that is going to surprise, hopefully, shock me. I do love the
traditional media–oil, acrylic, watercolor, the brush, the palette
knife though.

WHAT IS A PORTRAIT?

I
just wish I could come up with a boffo substitute for that staid
word––“Portrait” . My ambition is to capture that essence of the
human condition, that resides in this person generous enough to pose for
me. (Posing is very hard work.)

I paint from life, and if I am
fortunate enough to have a model, I don’t want to ruin that rush of
immediacy by using a camera for reference. Especially since I try to go
beyond achieving a “likeness”. Although my subjects usually recognize
themselves, if that is important. To my mind, a good photograph makes
better sense in accomplishing a flattering, engaging portrait. And who
doesn’t want to look good if it’s their “portrait”?

Luckily, I
feel off the hook on the particular dilemma of pleasing a “patron”
because I aim for the inner essence–– that which speaks out to me, and
becomes a corroboration between sitter and painter, to create something
original, and that with luck, possesses a timeless quality.

The
model, for me, presents an opportunity for both of us to explore and
experiment towards new directions. To make fresh discoveries in the
realm of truly expressionist art, as opposed to copying what’s posed in
front of the artist’s easel. I aim for the model’s essence in the hope
that I will refresh my own mojo.

VIBES

When
I was painting our model, “ Robin 1 ––A Study in Blue” ( At the
Forest Hill Art Club) , I felt certain vibes, which later proved to have
some validity. I sensed her Indian roots, the beat of Jazz, a strong
brave resilience in the face of a difficult life. And later, when she
clued me in about her background, my intuitions proved right.

I
also found a softer, vulnerable side to her character which I approached
in this other painting done alternately, in the same 4 hour sitting ––
Robin 2, A Study in Raw Sienna.

Robin, Study in Raw Sienna

I often use a limited palette for alla prima painting and tend to paint duo studies of the same subject, following a basic credo that I apply to every painting or drawing done from life study of the model––

No use of photography. I know that wonderful art is being created thanks to the miracle of digital photography, but it doesn’t work for me. It stands in the way of my ultimate connection to the subject.

My ultimate goal–– Each painting should be a freewheeling experiment, taken to its own honest conclusion.

~

ruthrifka1@gmail.com

~

]]>JAPANESE ART, TSUNAMIS, EARTHQUAKES, REVOLUTIONS, & What does Art have to do with the real world?https://www.ruthrifka.com/2011/03/17/japanese-art-tsunamis-earthquakes-revolutions-what-does-art-have-to-do-with-the-real-world/
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IS
ART EVEN IMPORTANT ANYMORE?

WHAT
DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH THE “REAL” WORLD?

Here
we are, stuck in a twenty-first century version of Charles Dickens’ “best of
times and worst of times”.Limitless technological innovation keeps adding to our comforts while
enlarging our needs.Still, we
have been rudely reminded that we humans only occupy this planet courtesy of
geological permission.

The earth can open up
under us at any moment. Earthquakes, tsunamis happen. The biblical flood
doesn’t even seem so mythical anymore.And then there are the human earthquakes. Revolts against oppression.
Leaders hiring mercenaries to shoot against their own citizenry. This poor
world is in turmoil, big time.

So where does Art fit into all this or does it?

For
me, the significance of artistry––the pursuit of honest art-making––is
demonstrated when videos show how the people of Japan patiently line up for a
cup of soup. What beauty there is in their restraint and quiet discipline.They do not loot. They are patient,
humble.

One cannot help but wonder what is it in
their culture that has shaped them to behave in such a civilized way. I believe
a large part of their cultural dignity is based in their highly refined sense
of art, the sensitivity that has seeped down to the homeliest everyday need to
imbibe liquid, which they have transformed by the “tea ceremony”. Everyday life
comprises the art of gracious manners, consideration, subtlety in the
appreciation of true beauty. The respect for that which is ancient, tried and
true seems to permeate their attitude.

PRACTISING
THE“ART OF LIVING” WITH INTEGRITY

For
me, the Japanese Arts of Living with artistic integrity seem to be intertwined
with the elementary Art of Seeing what is put before our eyes.

All
around us we are presented with awesome masterpieces of nature. Every moment
offers sublime “ found” masterworks, just for the expended effort of
looking.And Seeing:

Morning breaking. A mushroom sprouting
from the earth.The ocean. A piece
of driftwood. A rock.A tiny sea
shell, honed and perfectedbringing its own message from the sea. A child’s smile. A Buttefly’s
Eye.

THE ART IS ALWAYS THE MESSAGE

Theart is the message ––to paraphrase Marshal
McLuhan’s“the medium is the
message”.

The
old saw about literary art went: ‘if you want to send a message, phone Western
Union and send a telegram.’Well,
Western Union and the singing telegram have all but gone the way of the
dodo.Still artists are stuck with
the quandary of having to say something terribly important––or at least
worthwhile.

But
until it’s down on paper, or on the canvas, or presented as a Conceptual Art
Idea, there’s nothing to judge.So
the artist has to keep exploring the whole question of Why Make Art In The
First Place?

To
satisfy the craving of the artist? Is that enough? Isn’t that pure
escapism?Or maybe what the
worldreally needs, instead of the
proverbial five cent cigar–– is the opportunity for every last one of us to
express his true self.

CALL
IT ART THERAPY.

Or
passion. Or a refuge from the world. I think any message should be sent to
one’s own self first. And then it’s all up for grabs.Out of the passion, or some experimental technique, comes
something to critique.

Is
the artist, himself, always the best judge of his own work?My criterion is: Could I ever duplicate
this painting again?If I
kind of feel a talented stranger pulled the whole thing off, then there’s hope.

And
I can then decipher the meaning–– the message, if you will. Who knew I had it
in me?For me, the message should
rise out of the passion, as opposed to Political or Propaganda Art where a
passionate message takes precedence over the art.

AGIT
PROP ART

Like
most of us, I hanker to improve society, change this world for the better.The dynamism of Agit Propsends a message for its time. But look
how often it descends to propaganda that equates to brain washing.Can this be true artistry as we
understand it?

Unfortunately, the Art Whores of History
are often equipped with formidable talent. High Art can turn especially
pernicious when it promotes an evil messageLeni Riefenstahl comes to mind ––Hitler’s “perfect
German woman”––who managed to turn Hitler, the Fuehrer of the Third Reich, into
a mesmerizing icon in her documentary, “Triumph of the Will”.

More
often, even with noble intentions, Agit Prop, leads to self-delusion, and over
time, ends up looking foolishly outdated, at best, wrong-headed kitsch.

MORALITY
AND ART

Are
artists even entitled to let it all hang and be the Art Whores of History? My
feeling is no. The same buck should stop for everyone.We are all accountable.

ART IS THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE

ART
IS THE POWERFUL MESSAGE.That’s why
it never really dies. If there is such a thing as a holy grail of pure artistic
truth out there, perhaps it’s in the timeless understanding that sincerely
executed ART isultimatelyliberatingfor the soul. And the artist balancing on a see-saw of
integrity, has to hope he sent a worthy message along those lines.

PICASSO’S MODUS OPERANDI

Picasso’s Modus Operandi boiled down to not having a specific way of operating. He never pinned himself down. He tried everything.

As an expressionist painter who works in many different ways, I am so very indebted to Picasso–– and I humbly acknowledge him not only as my teacher but also my mentor. Though, truth to tell, he’s not my favorite artist, and I‘ve never consciously experienced a yen to emulate any of his work.

Yet thanks to him, I feel vindicated in how I approach my work as an artist. I can give myself permission to learn from, and to follow in the artistic footprints of totally different artists. After all, if it was good enough for Picasso, then why not me.

PICASSO’S RANGE OF WORK IS AN GOING TUTORIAL

It shows you how he did it in an open-hearted attribution to everything he fell in love with along the way. He was fearless to change horses, or engines, or methods, to get where he needed to go, to be a man of many styles.

This, for the most part, is a practice not too well accepted for most art gallery shows. The artist is supposed to find his niche and stick to it. And once he labels himself, he should be consistent and not confuse the issue.

PICASSO BROKE ENTIRELY NEW GROUND.

And he did it over and over. I don’t feel obliged to follow suit. My duty is to myself, and how my particular art eventually speaks for itself. I’m not searching for some viable mammalian body part to pickle in a vitrine (although I am okay with that if it’s what the artist needs to do).

Picasso’s ongoing legacy to artists is the granting of artistic permission to keep trying out new ideas––To allow one’s self to flop big in order to win big. To humbly copy present day or past Masters.

I love tracing the artistic footprints of Leonardo da Vinci. Many of my portraits are inspired by his techniques. And I feel equally comfortable painting my version of Edvard Munch’s “Scream”.

PICASSO THE PERMISSION GIVER

At present I am working on a series of Paint Poems. But should I want to stop midstream and try something else, I have permission to break out in another direction. Picasso led the way.